


The Day Before

by darmok



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Implied/Referenced Suicide
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-01
Updated: 2014-09-01
Packaged: 2018-02-15 19:33:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 548
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2240856
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/darmok/pseuds/darmok
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Short. Wolfstar. Open to interpretation. Based on the music video for the song The Day Before by Nell.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Day Before

He sets up the video camera so that the lens overlooks their table, angled in a way to make only Remus appear in the shot. He starts recording.

"Sit down, Sirius."

He looks over at Remus, who is already seated at the table and scribbling away in his notebook. Sirius nods and turns away from the camera, taking his seat across from his friend.

Remus tears out the sheet he was writing on and places it somewhere out of sight. He then opens a worn copy of John Berger's And Our Faces, My Heart, Brief as Photos. Flipping the pages with slow reverence, he lands on the poem "A View from Delft". His eyes skim words he's read hundreds of times, pausing here and there as if each line recalls to him memories of some distant past.

Sirius glances at his friend's half-eaten breakfast and flicks a fallen berry across the table. "You really don't eat enough, you know?"

Remus just shakes his head and smiles. "I wasn't very hungry." He glances up from his book for a moment, the smile melting into his eyes, soft and beautiful and jarring all at once.

Sirius sucks in a breath and grins half-heartedly; Remus always makes him feel slightly uncomfortable in his own skin. He begins to tap his foot restlessly beneath the table. "I've missed you."

This elicits another quiet smile from Remus. Sirius continues, "It's so quiet these days. We're none of us causing as much trouble as we ought to be."

Silence settles between them for a fleeting moment. Remus sets aside his book, turning his full attention to his friend across the table. "We can't be troublemakers forever," he says finally, a smile still playing across his lips. Sirius has the same lopsided grin plastered to his face, a final barrier against the tide rolling in.

Remus takes the little vial next to his hand and empties it into his untouched coffee. Sirius' fingers twitch on the other side of the table.

"Can't we? Can't we just run off somewhere and wreak havoc like the old days?" The grin has disappeared off Sirius' face, and Remus can hear the gentle yet desperate pleading in his friends' voice.

Remus picks up the coffee cup and forces one last smile, "We can. Once we're all together again, we definitely will." He drinks the coffee and gently places the cup back onto the table.

"I wish I could stop you. I'd do anything to stop you." Sirius' eyes, pleading, drowning, beautiful, bore into Remus. And then all he can make out are those dark gray eyes, growing ever larger like an approaching storm. Everything else falters and then fades.

Remus' eyes cloud over, and his brows knit in pain. His voice, usually calm and steady, is rough and low and shaking now. "It's alright, Pads. I can't do this without you anymore. I... I'll see you soon." Remus suddenly lurches forward and grips the table, his knuckles white, his brown hair falling to hide his face. Sirius watches as his friend finally lets go and falls back into his chair, his eyes closed and his mouth open as if releasing the last of his words.

The recording ends. The table is empty. It's as if they were never here.


End file.
